Introduction General Anthropology What is it to be human? Human existence means human co-existence; this is an inevitable part of the human condition. ...

Self psychology is the study of the psychodynamics that come into existence with self reflection-that is, the intentions that emerge with introspection. In this respect, self psychology is different from Freudian psychoanalysis and intimately related to the phenomenological-existential perspective. In this paper, I examine how a general psychological model of intentional reflection can be developed on the basis of Kohut's self psychology, a model that illustrates one of the central organizational principles of human psychology. I conclude with a discussion of (...) the general psychological concepts of self, life-project, and activity in the light of self psychology. (shrink)

Attempts to develop a genuine compatabilist model of the free will and to implement this model into psychology. The task of the model is to present an alternative to those versions of the compatabilist notion, which rightly seen are nothing but soft versions of determinism. This alternative is based on an integration of a soft version of determinism with a soft version of indeterminism, and based on a nonmystical and scientific concept of downward causality, and thereby is placed in the (...) domain of science and in a materialist ontology. This leads to a hierarchical multi-layer model, the core notion of which is the soft deterministic concept of bottom-up constituting dynamics and the soft indeterministic concept of top-down organizational dynamics. It is in this existential tension field between constitutional and organizational dynamics that our very human nature in general, and free will in particular, develop. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

For eller imod Naturen? Naturen er traditionelt blevet opfattet som noget skidt, man kunne behandle, som man ville; som noget lavt, man har kunnet udnytte; endog som noget "syndigt", man skulle undertrykke! I denne bog vil Naturen blive skrevet med stort, og heri vil man møde en tradition, der som en understrøm, eller måske rettere overstrøm, har været til stede som alternativet til den herskende naturfjendske tænkemåde. Denne tradition har man forsøgt at undertrykke på alle måder! Man har gjort Platon (...) til discipel af Sokrates i stedet for Pythagoras, man har fortiet, at Cicero, Kepler, Leibniz, Goethe og Ørsted alle var inkarnerede platonikere -- ligesom også Henrik Pontoppidan var det: 'At lovprise det skønne, gode, retfærdige; at brændemærke skurkene, narrene, hyklerne -- det er og har været og vil vedblive at være en værdig opgave også for de skønne kunster' -- sådan skrev Pontoppidan selv, og hans. 'Lykke-Per' skriver (ligesom Platon!) en bog om en 'Fremtidsstat'. Den er baseret på "grøn energi", og i stedet for kirker har den templer for platoniske ideer som Sandheden og Retfærdigheden. (shrink)

The paper presents a general critique of the use of conceptual frameworks in design, illustrated by the well known synchronous/asynchronous, co-located/non-co-located framework. It argues that while frameworks are a necessary and inevitable starting point for design, the business of tailoring and adapting them to specific situations need not be ad hoc.Triggering artefacts are a way of systematically challenging both designers' preunderstandings and the conservatism of work practice. Experiences from the Great Belt tunnel and bridge project are used to illustrate howtriggering (...) artefacts change themodality of designing for change. (shrink)

Seeks to replace the dominant approaches to the question of the nature of art in contemporary English-speaking (analytic) philosophy with a historicist approach that emphasizes localized, cultural-historical narratives.

The question about the nature of art is at the centre of the philosophy of art. The thesis seeks to replace the two dominant approaches to this question in contemporary English-speaking philosophy--essentialism and descriptivism--with an historicist approach. The historicist approach I develop and defend holds that answers to the question "What is Art?" must take the form of localized cultural-historical narratives. ;This alternative approach is applied to write the history of the development of what I call "the modern conception of (...) art" in the early eighteenth century. A changing notion of art that emerges in Britain in this period is decisive for all later philosophy of art. Its genesis must be understood in a context of social, political and cultural changes. These changes deeply affected many people's conception of themselves and of their place in society. Social status becomes uncertain, and new criteria for the presentation of the self and evaluation of others emerge. Knowledge about art and the display of taste become indicators of social distinctions and thus criteria for social evaluation, replacing older notions of birth and rank. The modern conception of art emerges as part of new ideas of the presentation of the self, as part of a new ideal of edification. ;In contemporary philosophy of art, the evaluative contents of the conception of art--its historical and contemporary connection to notions of the moral and social order--are seldom discussed. Yet, as I show, these connections exist and have existed for a long time. At the centre of contemporary philosophy of art, therefore, there is a conception of art which is ideological in the sense that it treats the normative as factual and the historically contingent as the natural. Only a historical analysis of the kind I carry out is able to bring to light this aspect of the conception of art presupposed in contemporary philosophy of art. (shrink)

This article presents a developmental model of phenomenological consciousness in early childhood . A 3-stage developmental model is constructed, based on the understanding of phenomenological consciousness as modeling activity structured by the directedness at/by the world in general and directedness at/by directedness in particular. Thereby, it is demonstrated that it is in the interaction with other people and the structure and content of their phenomenological consciousness, i.e., their directedness and their modeling of the world, that the development of fully accomplished (...) phenomenological consciousness takes place. The developmental model is empirically substantiated on the basis of a review of empirical investigations which traditionally has been framed in terms of the "theory-of-mind"-theory, but which in this article shall be reframed in terms of directedness and phenomenological modeling. 2012 APA, all rights reserved). (shrink)

According to quality theories of love, love is fitting by virtue of properties of the loved person. Despite their immediate plausibility, quality theories have met with many objections. Here I focus on two that strike at the heart of what makes the quality theory an appealing account of love, specifically, the theory’s ability to accommodate the fact that loving someone is a way of valuing them for who they are. The fungibility objection and the problem of love’s object maintain that (...) if a person is loved on the basis of their qualities, they are not valued in the right kind of way. I propose a new kind of quality theory which both answers these objections and is independently well-motivated. Specifically, I argue that to love a person as a whole, one must value them as an organic unity. (shrink)

Novel neurotechnologies like deep brain stimulation and brain-computer interfaces promise clinical benefits for severely suffering patients. Nevertheless, such electroceuticals raise several ethical issues on different levels: while on the level of clinical neuroethics issues with direct relevance for diagnosis and treatment have to be discussed, on the level of research neuroethics questions regarding research and development of these technological devices like investigating new targets and different diseases as well as thorough inclusion criteria are dealt with. On the level of theoretical (...) neuroethics more general questions are examined including anthropological considerations on “normal” human functioning as well as implications on personality, personal identity and authenticity. This paper presents a brief review on ethical issues of deep brain stimulation and brain computer interfacing and simultaneously introduces to this themed issue with thirteen contributions dealing from different perspectives with ethical implications of electroceuticals for the human brain. (shrink)

In this book, Andrea Clausen intends to reconcile Kripke's point according to which conceptual content has to be considered as being constituted by social, normative practice - by a process of mutual assessments - with the view that the content of empirical assertions has to be conceived as objective. She criticizes approaches that explicate content-constitutive practice in non-normative terms, namely in terms of sanctioning behavior (Haugeland, Pettit, Esfeld). She also rejects a pragmatist reading of Heidegger that proceeds from thoroughly (...) normative but pre-conceptual practice. She develops and defends a particular reading of an approach that conceives normative, conceptually articulated practice - giving and asking for reasons - as primitive (Brandom, McDowell). (shrink)

In public debate GMPs are oftenreferred to as being unnatural or a violationof nature. Some people have serious moralconcerns about departures from what is natural.Others are concerned about potential risks tothe environment arising from the combination ofhereditary material moving across naturalboundaries and the limits of scientificforesight of long-term consequences. To addresssome of these concerns we propose that anadditional element in risk assessment based onthe concept of familiarity should beintroduced. The objective is to facilitatetransparency about uncertainties inherent inthe risk assessment of (...) the GMP. Familiarityconventionally involves data and experiencerelating to the plant species and the ecosystemin question. We would like to extend thisconcept to the molecular level of plantbreeding and suggest that GMP characteristicsshould be compared to a reference baselinedetermined by conventional breeding techniques.Three GMPs are ranked according to familiarityat the plant and ecosystem level and themolecular level. The approach may help tointegrate discussion of the scientificarguments and moral questions raised in thedebate about GMOs by providing an operationalscheme within which moral concerns are broughtwithin the framework of science-based riskassessment. (shrink)

This paper emphasizes a need to recognize sexual refusals both in public discourse and in the context of particular interactions. I draw on sociolinguistic work on the structure of refusals to illuminate a much-discussed case of alleged sexual violence as well as to inform how we ought to think and talk about sexual consent and refusal more generally. I argue on empirical and ideological grounds that we ought to impute the same significance to refusals uttered in sexual contexts as we (...) do to those uttered in nonsexual contexts. Finally, I propose an amendment to the definition of affirmative consent that would put it in line with the conclusions drawn in the rest of the paper. (shrink)

Safety factor rules are used for drawing putatively reasonable conclusions from incomplete datasets. The paper attempts to provide answers to four questions: “How are safety factors used?”, “When are safety factors used?”, “Why are safety used?” and “How do safety factor rules relate to decision theory?”. The authors conclude that safety factor rules should be regarded as decision methods rather than as criteria of rightness and that they can be used in both practical and theoretical reasoning. Simplicity of application and (...) inability or unwillingness to defer judgment appear to be important factors in explaining why the rules are used. (shrink)

Menschliche Existenz ist wesentlich zeitlich verfasst. Vergangenheit, Gegenwart und Zukunft bilden keine lineare Abfolge, sondern durchdringen einander in der jeweiligen Gegenwart. Diese Durchdringung ist von entscheidender Bedeutung für das Gelingen unserer Existenz. Es liegt jedoch auf der Hand, dass wir darüber nicht vollständig verfügen. Um die zeitlichen Bedingungen für das Gelingen oder Scheitern unserer Existenz zu verstehen, ist es daher wichtig, eine Erfahrungsebene jenseits der Kontrolle des bewussten Ichs zu berücksichtigen. Ich untersuche drei Ansätze, die dazu auf unterschiedliche Weise beitragen: (...) (1) Freud denkt, dass das Unbewusste, das er als zeitlos versteht, die Fähigkeit des bewussten Ichs beeinträchtigen kann, die Vermittlung mit der Realität zu leisten. Im Gegensatz dazu (2) beschreibt Bergson die innere „Dauer“ (die systematisch an die Stelle von Freuds Unbewusstem tritt) als ein Werden, von dem verstandesmäßig getroffene Entscheidungen das Subjekt entfremden können. Schließlich (3) ist Subjektivität Levinas zufolge durch eine „Diachronie“ konstituiert, einen Prozess des Verlusts oder Vergehens einer Zeit, die das Ich nicht wieder einholen kann, die aber gerade deshalb das Subjekt von sich selbst zu befreien vermag. Ich argumentiere, dass jeder der Autoren etwas zum Ausdruck bringt, das für unsere zeitliche Existenz von großer Bedeutung ist, und biete eine Möglichkeit an, ihre Einsichten zu integrieren. (shrink)

The social shaping of technology (SST) approach to analysing technological development lends itself to an understanding of the relatively negotiated, heterogeneous, and local character of technologies, politicising the mediated nature of sociotechnical change. Here, conditions of actor engagement lie at the heart of analysing technology in social context—that is, the occasions, strategies, and scope of influence that are afforded different actors, by way of how particular problems come to be defined and resolved. In this paper we examine the framing of (...) a number of concrete technology assessments (TAs) from Denmark, from the realms of general TA and health technology assessment (HTA). Our examination of the TA initiatives is directed towards the relatively open-ended and consequently explorative and qualitative stance that SST takes in characterising the boundaries between the technical and the social. The paper goes on to discuss a possible place of ethical inquiry in TA, based on the understanding of technological development that SST affords. In the reflexive approach to addressing technology's relation to society, technology no longer maintains a universally reducible character in time or in social space. Through the possibility of analytically and practically opening up for otherwise seemingly locked actor-positions SST gives room for a more differentiated questioning and treatment of ethical issues in which technology may be implicated. (shrink)

"Spanning many historical and literary contexts, Moral Imagination brings together a dozen recent essays by one of America's premier cultural critics. David Bromwich explores the importance of imagination and sympathy to suggest how these faculties may illuminate the motives of human action and the reality of justice. These wide-ranging essays address thinkers and topics from Gandhi and Martin Luther King on nonviolent resistance, to the dangers of identity politics, to the psychology of the heroes of classic American literature. Bromwich demonstrates (...) that moral imagination allows us to judge the right and wrong of actions apart from any benefit to ourselves, and he argues that this ability is an innate individual strength, rather than a socially conditioned habit. Political topics addressed here include Edmund Burke and Richard Price's efforts to define patriotism in the first year of the French Revolution, Abraham Lincoln's principled work of persuasion against slavery in the 1850s, the erosion of privacy in America under the influence of social media, and the use of euphemism to shade and anesthetize reactions to the global war on terror. Throughout, Bromwich considers the relationship between language and power, and the insights language may offer into the corruptions of power.Moral Imagination captures the singular voice of one of the most forceful thinkers working in America today"--. (shrink)

Der vorliegende Schwerpunkt beschäftigt sich mit dem Zusammenhang von Zeit und gutem Leben. Er verfolgt das Ziel, die systematische Auseinandersetzung mit den Themen, Problemen und Fragestellungen voranzubringen, die das Verhältnis zwischen den zeitlichen Strukturen der menschlichen Existenz auf der einen und den Bedingungen guten, sowohl subjektiv erfüllten als auch objektiv gelingenden Lebens auf der anderen Seite betreffen. Die verschiedenen Beiträge spannen ein breites Spektrum theoretischer Ansätze, thematischer Ausrichtungen und praktischer Bezüge auf. Es reicht von der philosophischen Erörterung grundlegender Fragen der (...) zeitlichen Verfasstheit guten Lebens über die Auseinandersetzung mit psychopathologischen Phänomenen gestörter Zeiterfahrung bis hin zur sozialund erziehungswissenschaftlich angeregten ethischen Beschäftigung mit konkreten Lebensphasen und praktischen Anwendungsfeldern. (shrink)

Uncertainty is, it seems, more or less constantly present in our lives. Even so, grasping the concept philosophically is far from trivial. In this doctoral thesis, uncertainty and its conceptual companion information are studied. Axiomatic analyses are provided and numerical measures suggested. In addition to these basic conceptual analyses, the widespread practice of so-called safety factor use in societal regulation is analyzed along with the interplay between science and policy in European regulation of chemicals and construction.

Brain-Computer interfacing is a highly promising and fast developing field of modern life sciences. Recent advances in neuroscience together with progressing miniaturization in micro systems provide insights in structure and functioning of the human brain and enable connections of technical components to neuronal structures as well. This possibly offers a future therapy for paralysed patients through neuronal motor pros-theses. This paper identifies central ethical aspects which have to be considered in further progressing research in this scientific field and the development (...) of neuronal motor prostheses. (shrink)

In the mid-eighties a first endeavour was initiated to institutionalise Tönnies studies. The Ferdinand Tönnies Society in Kiel and the later Ferdinand Tönnies Research Unit at the University of Hamburg Institute for Sociology undertook to process and promote the works of the Nestor of German sociology. On the basis of the preparatory work done, a complete edition of Tönnies’ works (TG) was planned in 24 volumes. This critical complete edition will include the published authentic and authorised German and foreign-language texts (...) as well as hitherto unpublished material in so far as it is in independent literary form. The first 22 volumes of the TG present the published works, the 23rd volume contains the un-published material, and the final volume provides the general indexes and lists. Besides the edited texts, the volumes contain list(s) of contents, a list of abbreviations and grammalogues, a critical apparatus, name and subject indexes, and a bibliography. The editor’s preface gives brief information on sources, the condition of material, the degree of authorisation, and author corrections. (shrink)